$100 laptop project launches 2007
The first batch of computers built for the One Laptop Per Child project could reach users by July this year. — The scheme is hoping to put low-cost computers into the hands of people in developing countries. — Ultimately the project's backers hope …
Context & Ripple Effects
The One Laptop Per Child project has moved from concept toward shipping hardware: Google signed on as a sponsor back in 2005, and the first batch of machines built under the program could reach users by July 2007. That timeline matters because the project's premise — putting low-cost computers into the hands of people in developing countries — depends entirely on volume manufacturing arriving on schedule.
First-order effects
- Developing-country governments considering bulk purchases get their first chance to evaluate real units rather than prototypes when the July 2007 batch lands.
- Google's early sponsorship gives the project a high-profile corporate backer whose involvement signals commercial legitimacy to other potential funders.
Second-order effects
- Established PC makers face pressure to field competing low-cost machines for the same ministry buyers, since OLPC's pricing sets an anchor for what governments expect educational hardware to cost.
Third-order effects
- If government bulk-buying works as a channel, emerging-market computing access shifts from individual retail purchases to state procurement decisions, making education ministries the decisive customers for the low-cost laptop market.
The trend: Computing access in developing countries is being restructured around sub-$200 purpose-built hardware sold in government-scale volumes rather than conventional consumer PCs.